Fairfield University Rises 30 Spots In U.S. News National Rankings

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield University rose 30 spots in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, moving from No. 139 to a tie at No. 109 among National Universities in the 2027 edition.

The university also tied for No. 60 among Top Private Colleges — National Universities, a category introduced this year.

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Fairfield ranked No. 38 nationally in the new Earnings by Major category, which measures post-graduation earnings relative to graduates' fields of study. It also rose to No. 78 in Graduation Rate Performance, up from No. 96 last year.

The university tied for No. 72 among Best Colleges for Veterans — National Universities, up from No. 96 last year.

Several Fairfield academic programs also appeared in the rankings. The Charles F. Dolan School of Business tied for No. 129 nationally among undergraduate business programs.

Six business specialties ranked among the top 30 nationally: finance and management at No. 15, analytics and marketing at No. 16, accounting at No. 24 and entrepreneurship at No. 26. The analytics and accounting rankings were ties.

The School of Engineering and Computing's engineering program tied for No. 82 nationally.

Fairfield's Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies' Bachelor of Science in Nursing program ranked No. 75 nationally.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn ranked Fairfield No. 27 on its Top Colleges 2026 list for long-term career success in the U.S. and No. 9 nationally for job placement.

U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges rankings evaluate more than 1,700 U.S. colleges and universities using up to 17 measures of academic quality and graduate success.

Factors include student outcomes, such as graduation rates, retention and post-graduation earnings; peer assessments of college presidents, provosts and deans; faculty resources; financial resources; standardized tests; and faculty research.